Leadership and Management

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Burying the Hatchet on Work Place Disputes

By Christina Lattimer • October 31, 2013 - 2:46 pm Leadership and Management

Disputes at work cost us much more than loss of productivity

As we speak I have placed myself at the centre of a dispute. Now for me this is quite a big deal because quite frankly I am against being in dispute per se. The details of the dispute are immaterial because all it really boils down to is that the other person I am in dispute with simply sees things differently to me, and they are trying to foist their perspective on me. (Conversely, I’m at it too!).

Because I know that disputes are futile egotistical diversions, which waste a lot of time and energy I usually avoid them like the plague. That’s not to say I don’t feel strongly about certain issues, and I abhor it when my values are being dishonoured, it’s simply that I know enough to realise that everyone is entitled to their opinion. Also life is simply too short to become embroiled.

The thing is with disputes though; it is usually when someone else’s rules, opinions or behaviours impinge on our own personal boundaries that we can no longer turn a blind eye.

Some of the facts

At work in the UK, around were recorded in 2012/13. The introduction of payment of a fee to lodge an employment dispute to a tribunal which was introduced in July 2013, has many HR professionals and employment lawyers waiting with baited breath to see if there is a sharp downfall in claims as a result. The most recent released by the UK Government are pretty inconclusive and the trends have certainly not been established.

But whether or not the payment of a fee helps to direct the minds of claimants whose disputes may be dubious is really a bit of a red herring. The emergence of an application to an employment tribunal is quite often the end result of a long and arduous route whereby somewhere along the line, parties to the dispute have failed to find a solution, or a meeting of minds.

Workplace conflict is extremely costly; in a , it was found that resolving conflict took up, on average, one day per month for each and every worker. If you start doing the math, then you realise that the cost to businesses is pretty huge. But even then, as we all know; disputes at work have a ripple effect. Not only do they take precious time to resolve, they can create an awful atmosphere, absence from work, knotty HR issues while disputes are being solved and simply drag down the business.

Why disputes occur

There are many reasons why disputes occur, but some of the common dynamics present are; roles of victim and victimiser, a sense of unfairness or injustice, a need to be right and the other wrong and sometimes a need to be better than or indignation at being seen as less than.

Some of the causes of disputes arise from:

Rules imposed by one party have been broken by the other, but the other doesn’t agree on the rules in the first place.
There is a disagreement on the facts
One person is being seen as having an unfair advantage over another
A person’s behaviour is, or is seen as, unacceptable
Decisions are made which don’t consider the person or their circumstances
There is a personality clash
Inadequate communication exists.

I’m sure there are many more, but in my experience many disputes are contained within those seven causes.

Because we are all so unique and our perspectives are so very different, conflict resolution management is not really a huge success, as can be seen by the number of disputes which have reached employment tribunal. In fact many companies might argue that the most important HR Expertise is being able to minimise the effects of disputes in the workplace.

A different mind set

There is no magic wand unfortunately. Human behaviour doesn’t transform instantly. A change of mind is needed, and this is not just in the workplace, but at home, in politics, in global leadership. The following mind-set shifts would produce a significant change in unhealthy disputes which simply squash the spirit, waste time and stunt creativity and innovation. Creating dynamics of equal value, a goal of harmonious working (healthy conflict is allowed!), and respect of boundaries and understanding each other.

These can translate into possible actions such as:

Helping people who feel victimised to access their inner strength and honour themselves.
Creating a common purpose and vision when setting rules and boundaries, and when others can’t or don’t meet them, helping them as much as possible to do so.
Allowing people to make an occasional mistake.
Treating everyone with equal value as a person
Involving and honouring everyone when instigating change
Being aware of and acknowledging when decisions are made they may have a negative impact on others and finding ways to help people when that is the case.
Raising awareness of how we operate as human beings, and our impact on others.
Creating congruent communication, where different styles are respected and used.

The funny thing is, when I began to get into my current dispute, a big part of me was saying, just surrender, don’t go down that route, let it go! But my rebel sense of indignation and rightness won over. Well for a short time anyway. I think though, it might just be time to bury the hatchet!

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Tiny Buddha – The Lori Deschene Interview

By Christina Lattimer • October 24, 2013 - 10:00 am Personal Development

Even before I realised how much I would get involved and connect with others across social media and the internet; one of the first personal resources I found which resonated with me was Lori Deschene’s Tiny Buddha twitter feed.

As a life-long learner and self-awareness student, I have read my way through literally thousands of books which speak to my heart and soul, and I have to say Lori’s work stood out in it’s simplicity but also because of the truthfulness and vulnerability contained in her articles.

So when I published the , one of the first internet resources I wanted to show my gratitude to, was, the Tiny Buddha, and I contacted Lori to get permission to use her branding in the e-zine. Not only did I get a swift and positive response from Lori, I was absolutely delighted to persuade her to let me interview her for a future issue of the E-zine.

I am delighted that this interview with Lori also coincides with the publication of her second great book . I pre-ordered the book and was struck by the powerfulness of the chapters within. A must read! (More later)

Lori’s inspirational first book “” is also available from Amazon.

So here is what Lori had to say about her work on the Tiny Buddha and also her inspirational new book.

Why do you think the Tiny Buddha has such a huge and loyal fan base?

I believe it has a lot to do with the heart behind the site. People share themselves honestly and vulnerably in their writing, and this invites a type of authentic connection that’s sometimes hard to find. I also think it has to do with the way the site has grown—organically. Even as it attracts more readers and writers and we launch new products and features, it’s never about maximizing page views or meeting traffic or sales goals. The purpose is always the focus, and everything else is secondary.

To read the full interview simply click on the image below:

By Christina Lattimer

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10 Ways to Get Focused When You Simply Have Too Much To Do

By Christina Lattimer • September 19, 2013 - 1:59 pm Miscellaneous

10 Tips on How to get Focused When Multi- tasking

I don’t know about you but I do struggle at times to feel in control when my “to-do-list” is over the page. Unfortunately while mindlessly reacting, I’ve developed an almost comic strip routine, a little like starting a new healthy eating regime, it only lasts a few days and then old habits usually take over. The routine goes like this: I draw up a new to-do-list; I prioritise it, and start working through it. What usually happens is an emergency occurs, or something unexpected becomes the priority of the day, and my carefully planned prioritisation goes out of the window. I spend a day or two trying to get through some bulk volume work, spend unplanned evenings catching up and then the whole cycle starts again.

My 16 year old son has just started into 6^th form, for a lad who simply hates homework, at least 16 hours of it each week is a big stretch; it’s a whole new paradigm shift for him, one which already into the 2^nd week has become a source of stress. Of course he has to build habits which are going to help him to avoid being stressed. As I was giving him some advice about how to focus, I realised it was about time to take my own advice. So here I am writing this blog (on time) because yesterday, I began the process of practicing what I preached. I have heard many times that you learn best what you teach, so I thought in that spirit, I would share my advice with you! If you are ultra-organised and can add to the list, please do share! Any advice will help me I’m sure.

Ten ways to get focused :

1. Turn off the technology

With an array of teenage social media such as Snap chat, Instagram, Face book and IM, my son’s phone pretty much pings constantly. For me, my guilty time waster is to open emails when they ping into my inbox on my desk or laptop. This idea is as old as the first installed workplace computer, we all know we have to do it, but it takes some discipline and determination to ignore our ever increasing online communications.

2. Do one thing at a time

I know, I know it’s not rocket science, but I do flit about from project to project at times. My son started some Psychology homework, got stuck and instead of getting over the “difficult hurdle” he put it down and started something else. Doing one thing at a time means doing it from start to finish, without being distracted with something else. To actually do this takes determination and concentration, but it is well worth it as even difficult tasks get ticked off.

3. Diarise non urgent tasks a month ahead

If you have a million things to do and half of them are routine and definitely not going to be urgent in the next week or so, then diarise them a month in the future. I know it doesn’t get them off your list, but it gets them off your list for now. For me, it is like a breath of fresh air to know I don’t have to give those routine items a priority, and if I do happen to get up to date, I can always reach forward and get those things done and feel even more virtuous!

4. Chunk down daunting tasks

My son had his first 1000 word essay to do; he was daunted to say the least (while I tactfully kept quiet about the 10k and 20k feats which might come if he goes onto higher education). If you are daunted by the size of the task, then chunk it down into manageable tasks. Put each smaller task into a series of priorities and complete each one in order. It is easier to concentrate on a task if you know it’s only going to take an hour or so, than when you know it’s going to take a couple of days.

5. Have a purpose

When I have a mundane, but a priority task to do, I need a good purpose. So for example, when I got my tax return done earlier this month, I had to remind myself that if I got it done, not only would it not be hovering over me, like the ghost of Christmas Past, but I would be able to completely get focused on tasks I really love and enjoy. My son had to remind himself that he wanted to spend some of his weekend playing football and going out with friends, and not have to do homework instead. Having big picture purposes can help too, although tend not to be so effective, as small ones. At the moment, my son has a vision for his future, so he needs to remind himself that by focusing now, it will help him achieve his goals.

6. Don’t do it

Ok, this tip isn’t about focus, but getting rid of unnecessary or habitual tasks helps to get you focused on the important and necessary tasks. If you can’t find a good reason to do it, other than, you always do, or its part of your routine, or you’re scared to let it go, then stop.

7. Be in the right environment

We are lucky because we have a spare bedroom which my son is now using as his study. It means he can shut the door and escape from the hub-bub of the rest of the house. If you are in a busy office and can’t concentrate for interruptions and activity around you, then go somewhere else. I managed a busy office with over 80 employees on site, and as my door was wide open, I had a constant queue of people coming to see me. During one particular crisis we encountered, I was struggling to pull together an urgent report, when one of my dear team members, marched over, popped her head round the door and said, “excuse me, but this is for your own good”, and she shut the door and taped a “Do not disturb” sign on my door. Yes I should have done it myself of course, but being in reactive mode can sometimes be a lifelong habit.

8. Take a break

If you get to a point where you are finding it hard going, take a break. Taking a break does not mean checking your phone or emails, it is about going to get a coffee, getting some fresh air or even practicing a five minute mediation. It is about quieting your mind, not populating it with fresh information

9. Establish a routine.

If you are a morning person then getting through your priority tasks should be done as soon as you get to your desk, or as soon as you can. You know what times of the day you are most productive, don’t waste those times on routine non urgent tasks, reserve them for the things you really need to do to make a difference. Once you’ve established your time zone, then stick to it and make it a habit as prevalent as brushing your teeth.

10. Borrow tips

My tenth tip is borrowed from a great mentor of mine, the eminently successful Peter Thomson, who is the UK’s most prolific Information Product Creator. So sorry, I don’t want to steal Peter’s thunder, so you will have to wait for this one, as I have interviewed Peter for the next issue of our monthly E-Zine “The Extra MILE” where he tells readers all about his work and in amongst his great advice he also shares his brilliantly simple tip to help people get things done, which is brilliantly effective! Do visit our website, and sign up for the E-zine to be sent directly to your inbox so you don’t miss out on Peter’s sage advice.

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Need to Find Inspiration? – 5 ways to get in the Zone

By Christina Lattimer • May 30, 2013 - 12:12 pm Leadership Development

Need Inspiration ?

I work best when I’m inspired. What do I mean by inspired? For me, it is a feeling of “all’s well” with the world: A certainty that nothing is going to go wrong and what I am doing is meant to be. When I am inspired, time ceases to matter and I can be working with focus and complete attention for what seems like minutes and a few hours have passed. Idea’s flow and they are easy to implement. I don’t actually think about much, I am just being, and moving forward. Some people call it being in “flow”. I call it being in the Zone.

Some years ago, I found myself struggling to define “quality” beyond the routine service level agreements, when making improvements to our customer service offer. It was easy to set standards in terms of timing and behaviours for example, it was less easy to define when they were met; but the quality wasn’t good.

The easiest way I found I could communicate quality in this context was to describe what it wasn’t. So for example. If a product was returned, or customers had to ring up for information we could have given them beforehand. If we got feedback which indicated we weren’t meeting on unwritten expectations, for example, an attitude by an employee, or not giving the right information at the right time.

Inspiration is like that, difficult to define or put into words and often easier to describe when inspiration is lacking. So for example: I am definitely not in the Zone when:

I feel de-motivated
I am resistant to moving forward
Time is dragging or worse I feel bored
What I am doing seems like a chore
I feel tired and stressed
I am overwhelmed or discouraged.
I’m easily distracted

Like being happy, being inspired takes some practice. Mostly, you can’t simply choose to be and feel inspired at will, you have to create the conditions which lead to an inspired state. Everyone will have a different way of doing this, but if you don’t know how to create those conditions then it might be worth your while to find out what works for you.

Over the years, I have developed a way of getting into my Inspiration “Zone” and here are some activities which I hope can help you reach an inspired state.

Writing early in the morning immediately after waking is a powerful practice. It is a great way to capture those early morning inspirational ideas and thoughts which often hit, like no other time in the day. Do this before you do anything else, yes even before that morning cuppa, otherwise the “spell” is broken, and you will begin to worry about your day to day schedule, or whatever is on your mind at the time.
If you are feeling fairly negative and need to get into the Zone, then find a comfortable place and stop thinking. No;I didn’t say stop breathing! Although when I suggest this to some, you would think I had indicated such a drastic step. This is a great technique if you have to go into a meeting or an event and you want to be in an inspired state. Instead of thinking about it, just stop thinking. This might involve just observing any thoughts you might have, but not actively engaging with them. It’s a mini meditation which should only last for about 5 minutes or so. Practicing “not thinking” is like giving your tired bombarded mind a mini holiday. It also allows the inspired part of you to shine through. Like sun rays streaming through a cloudy sky.
Take some time out and spend it doing something you love. That might be spending time with family, reading, exercising, or just watching a good old movie. It’s always good to do this, but be warned, if you take your de-motivated or distracted self with you, then you will negate the benefits. You must completely and utterly allow yourself to give your full attention to the activity, and the good feelings which you connect with.
Listen to music. Whether it’s up-beat rousing music, slow, ballads, or indeed anything which appeals to you at the time. Listening to music clears away negativity and if given attention and focus, helps change your state positively.
A state which completely minimises inspiration is when you are cluttered or overwhelmed, whether with things to do, or physical disorder around you. To keep clear and allow the inspiration to flow, take a good inventory of your things to do list, and delete anything less than essential. You must be ruthless. Ruthlessness is also a must when you are getting rid of physical clutter either at home or at work. If you haven’t touched it in 6 months, then you need to ask yourself whether you are going to use it. All clutter and unnecessary tasks are doing to you is keeping you weighted down.

What are your top tips to become inspired?

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Take Another Look : How Your Perception Is Changing Your World

By Christina Lattimer • May 9, 2013 - 10:26 am Leadership Development

I’ve wanted to write an article on perception for a long time, and for a while, until today, the words haven’t come.

Today I had a big personal breakthrough when I was able to see something I had long viewed in a certain way, differently. I feel differently and I know that my experience, has, and will change. The reason we need to understand the way our perception shapes our world is because if we want to experience something different, the change must come from within.

Some time ago a friend of mine, in mid-life, lost her job. She didn’t even see it coming. One day she walked into her workplace and was told, along with the rest of the workforce, that she no longer had a job. After a few weeks she decided to set up a business on her own. After only 18 months she gave up and went to work for a local business in a role which didn’t really reflect her expertise or indeed her valuable experience. A year into the job she came to me for some help.

Describing how she felt, she said she had “lost her mojo”. After some unravelling we got back to the day she lost her job. On the day of the “bombshell”, she took herself off for a walk, numb and stunned, her thoughts went along the lines of “Why me?” “What has gone wrong?” “How am I going to manage?”

Knowing how her family relied on her salary she felt like a failure and even up to the day we discussed the situation, she wondered why this catastrophic change in her life had happened.

She had attempted to pick herself up, starting the new business and then latterly with the new job, but she had lost something valuable inside and her and faith had been severely shattered.

During the conversation, I suggested that some people after the initial shock may have thought “Yippee” I can now explore something else, I can use my unique talents I have to do something great with my life”. She looked at me as if I had gone mad, and I could see she thought I was probably out of touch with reality.

But that is the real problem. We think the reality we see and how we interpret it, must be right. But in any given situation, we can look again and interpret it in a different way.

I realised many years ago that the world I was seeing was a reflection of my perceptions. When I was a young single mother I felt unsupported and alone. I had lots of friends and family, but I always perceived them to have busy lives and asking them for help was a big deal for me, so I rarely did it.

Unwittingly, I was fulfilling my perception of: “I am pretty much on my own, and if I need anything, I had better do it myself, because others are too busy to help”. After many months of feeling frustrated, overwhelmed and alone; a back problem forced me to ask for help.

At first it was difficult and uncomfortable; I felt I was imposing my own problems on others. But after a while, something magic happened. I began to see that people around me, cared about me, and wanted to help.

When I asked people for support they overdid the support they gave me. I saw that when people were helping me, they felt connected and were happier helping me than watching me struggle alone.

I finally realised with a great big light bulb moment, that my outworn perception had unwittingly kept others at a distance and not only was my perception wrong, but my need to be right kept my perception in place even when I desperately needed to see things in another way.

When my friend and I started talking about the choices we have and how we can see things in a different way, she realised losing the job was not a personal indictment on her. She eventually also saw she had been holding on to a faulty perception of the job loss and this faulty perception was affecting her life every day.

She decided to look at the situation differently and came to the conclusion it had nothing to do with her, it was simply a change in her life, albeit an unexpected one. I recently received an email from her. She told me that she was becoming quite an expert at switching her perceptions and most importantly, she had her mojo back!

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Dealing with the Negativity Epidemic

By Christina Lattimer • February 14, 2013 - 10:14 pm Miscellaneous

You can do something positive about negativity

As a result of an internal transfer, a client recently took over a new team. But he quickly realised that some of its members had a negative and unhelpful attitude.

This negativity manifested itself in a small clique complaining about customer expectations, some of their working conditions and the amount of work that they had to do (for which they believed that they got little thanks).

Although my client knew that he couldn’t let the situation continue, he felt that he didn’t have much of a lever with which to tackle it because, not only was the work being done, but fellow colleagues seemed to have a fairly neutral stance towards the others’ negativity. It seemed to have become the cultural norm.

Negativity is a badly acquired habit

Unfortunately, negativity can become an insidious habit within organisations. If such behaviour falls short of misconduct or appears not to have a detrimental effect on outcomes, however, it can seem easier to simply let it go.

Many teams that show a mixture of positivity and negativity muddle along without too much drama. Unfortunately though, even though performance may not appear to be hit, habitual negativity will inevitably prevent them from reaching standards of excellence or exceeding goals and targets.

For this reason, if you want your team to be outstanding, you need to tackle the negativity issue and, paradoxically, introduce a change of focus. Here are some tips for how to it:

Pay attention to negativity, but only with a view to moving the attention towards positivity
Don’t take the complaints personally
Be kind and don’t react to negativity with negativity – it simply perpetuates the habit
Remember that complaining is simply a form of communication, but you can teach people to communicate in more empowering ways
Talk to complainers on a regular basis and challenge their negative views. Do this on a one-to-one basis, if possible, as it is far more effective that way
Describe the impact that negativity has on the rest of the team
Help complainers reframe how they communicate their dissatisfaction
Where possible, help complainers to get what they want, but also show them possible means of communicating that will get better results
Be clear about the consequences of unacceptable negativity, which amounts to either attacking other people or having a detrimental impact on performance.

If you simply focus on the negativity, quite often the focus as with most things creates more of it. You have to be able to swivel the focus from negativity to any positives, and there always are some. Here are some ideas about how you can make sure the attention returns to the positive.

There are tactics you can use to replace negativity with positivity:

Reward positive behaviour and communication
Tell positive stories
Celebrate success regularly
Start meetings with positives. Be prepared to bring out the negatives, but ensure that you move back to the positives, ending with an upbeat summary
Set challenging targets and objectives that bring out the best in the team
Help the team to connect emotionally to its purpose and meaning and ensure that you get positive buy-in
Treat others on an adult-to-adult basis – and remember that negative complaining is a sign of immaturity.

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7 Principles To Get An Immediate Return On Your Learning Investment

By Christina Lattimer • February 1, 2013 - 7:28 am Miscellaneous

There are many evaluation models and cost/benefit frameworks which attempt to determine the “worth” of learning and development in the workplace. Depending on the type of learning required, some models and frameworks are easier to apply than others. Sometimes even when applied, the expected outcomes and improvements have either not materialised or they have taken far longer than expected.

Even when the learning programme is excellent, it doesn’t always deliver results

A number of years ago, I worked with an organisation who had invested a great deal of employee time and financial resource into a learning and development programme, with frustratingly little result. A professional business consultancy had evaluated before and after, calculated a ROI which was a persuasive driver to buy in the proposed programme, but 18 months later, the expected benefits had simply not accrued.

The MD was totally frustrated; as the learning programme was polished, expert and inspirational. Employees were enthused, and bought into the concepts and the benefits of working in a different way. The formalised feedback on the training event was excellent. The business consultancy had done an amazing job. So what had gone wrong?

Improving knowledge, skills and behaviours doesn’t always mean better results

In another example, lack of effective leadership skills and behaviours had been identified as a big problem for this national organisation. It was decided to re-design the leadership skills framework and to develop a programme for all senior leaders. A set of behavioural standards were developed, and a methodology to measure changes was put in place. A coaching and mentoring framework was agreed along with monthly action learning meetings.

There was a new spring in the step of leaders across the organisation. They gave positive and enthusiastic feedback for the coaching and development programme.

When the 2^nd annual employee feedback survey showed less than a 1% improvement in perceptions of employees, alongside results with marginal improvements, they were dumbfounded.

Great learning programmes don’t always result in improvements, but they should

Those examples are simply two of hundreds I have seen, when learning and development has been brought into an organisation; the learning has been evaluated and the content and application has been faultless. The organisation is absolutely clear about the improvements they want to see. But yet, still, the expected results did not materialise.

Why is this? As you know there are many factors which impel or motivate people to change the way they do things, and learning new skills, behaviours, knowledge or even raising awareness is just one part of the equation.

When your business is buying in development interventions, you want to be able to see a real return on investment, otherwise why would you use precious financial resources on it? No one can completely guarantee a return on investment, but the chances of a return can be greatly improved, and more importantly you can pinpoint exactly why the return hasn’t been realised by introducing the following principles.

When I was asked to do some work for the organisation in the first example, the MD was frustrated that the learning he had bought in had not realised the outcomes he required, even though the learning providers had delivered the learning they had promised.

Seven simple principles

My first step was to establish the following 7 principles if I were going to take on the task of getting results:

A learning and development provider will facilitate a real return on investment in partnership with the commissioning organisation.
Learning must enable a measurable improvement or change by the learner.
The improvement or change must contribute to the overall outcomes for the organisation.
Each learner must develop a “call to action, or objective” where they are accountable for achieving the measurable improvement or change.
The organisation must enforce accountability, usually through their performance management system.
The achievement collectively of “calls to action, or objectives” will result in a measured outcome for the organisation.
“If it is not possible to set individuals a call to action or objective which aligns with overall business objectives, following learning then the commissioning organisation should consider whether development is actually needed.

I agreed to deliver a short refresher programme, with a pragmatic design. I explained unless the training included an accountable call to action for each employee, it would likely be unsuccessful once more, and so secured his agreement to establish accountability for achievement within the organisation.

We agreed at the end of the event, each employee would identify a work based objective to improve, abandon or shorten a process and to quantify the savings.

Improve customer service or increase customer satisfaction, with a measurable difference
Reduce the number and type of complaints
Create a measurable increase in quality

In a 6 month period, 95% of employees met objectives, outcomes were recorded and collectively it was calculated that almost £1 million had been saved up to that point as a direct result of achievement of the outcomes or objectives.

Not only were amazing results achieved, employees felt an increased sense of ownership of the success of the initiative. They had tangible evidence of their contribution and saw a real difference.

Incidentally, these principles will also work for individuals if you are thinking of buying in your own self-development programme. For the majority of learning, unless it translates into accountable action, then it might be a “nice to have” but not necessarily an activity which will create significant change

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21 Compelling Reasons To Get To Know Yourself And Your Team

By Christina Lattimer • September 27, 2012 - 5:46 pm Miscellaneous

As a leader, manager or HR Professional, one of your foundational strengths is the depth of your own self-awareness and awareness of how other’s tick. You know the key to motivating people is being completely open and transparent and being able to be yourself, which in turn allows your team to follow suit.

One of the easiest and globally credible tools to develop self-awareness and understanding is Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator (MBTI). Carl Jung, the great psychologist developed a model of personality type which was later refined by the mother and daughter team, Isobel Myers and Katherine Briggs.

One of the principles of Jung’s model, “Psychological Types” developed in 1921, was each person has an innate urge to grow. Part of our growing process is to learn how we individually operate, develop the parts of us that we need to learn more about, and learn about the people around us.

Understanding difference is a real people skill. Differences occur through cultural, physical and psychological factors. Mix this up with differing beliefs and temperaments, and no wonder managing and understanding people can be challenging.

In the UK, we have travelled some distance in identifying equality and cultural issues; the Equality Act 2010 takes that thinking even further. Some organisations are still learning how to get to grips with difference, and some excel. But I’m sure you will agree it is fair to say we always have room to improve.

When it comes to understanding psychological differences, we still have some way to go, but understanding such difference is important from a leadership or management perspective. Not only is it important; it is relatively simple to grasp.

If you’ve experienced MBTI, you may have found learning about your own psychological type a key starting point for self-development. Once you have an understanding of what makes you really tick, then your whole world will look different. Not only will it lead to greater self-acceptance, but it will also help you accept and value the differences of others.

Many leaders,managers and HR professionals are familiar with and use Myers Briggs extensively so I will skip going into more detail. If you haven’t come across the tool before, you can find out more about Myers Briggs on the link.

If you haven’t used Myers Briggs or you don’t feel you’ve fully realised the benefits from using the tool, here are 21 compelling reasons why you might want to look again.

Learning and understanding how each other tick can help to:

Avoid and resolve conflicts
Play to an individual’s strengths
Identify gaps in the team
Discover how your team style works best with customers
Enable self-understanding and so reduce stress
Help you learn to relax
Aid career development
Assist communication strategies
Provide managers with the understanding to give effective feedback
Inform personal development plan
Work together more effectively
Relate to each other with greater understanding
Encourage true psychological diversity
Support people through life transitions
Inform your own and others decision making
Develop thinking skills
Develop emotional intelligence
Identify and develop strengths and weaknesses
Develop leaders, managers, teams and HR expertise
Encourage team members to understand and appreciate different strengths
Improve and change culture.

There are some circumstances where it can be dangerous to use Myers Briggs such as recruitment selection, judging performance or by making assumptions because of type indicators. The 8 elements of Myers Briggs can be used interchangeably, and people can be just as accomplished using their non-preferred type

If you have used personality type as part of your leadership, management, team development, or HR strategy; I’d love to know how you got on and what you got out of your experience……or not!

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Introduce A Life-Long Learning Culture

By christinapd • March 30, 2012 - 7:31 am Employee Development

Be an organisation that supports life-long learning!

If you are a Leader, Manager or HR Professional then you may have established a life-long learning habit. In a survey by CIPD shows that out of 332 responses from organisations; 77% of them used coaching and mentoring. All activity was to help develop and improve talent planning and performance. A massive 61% used coaching to aid leadership development.

So learning by leaders is alive and well!

I don’t know about you, but if you are anything like me, life-long learning has featured as a major part of my career to date. My love of lifelong learning has not just been to develop my career and work life. I have been a lifelong learner for life itself. The zest for learning started at an early stage for me. And I can confidently say that the drive for learning is in all of us from the beginning.

Whether we like it or not, we are all lifelong learners. Some of us learning consciously, a lot of us unconsciously. Some of us learn how to make our lives better, and this is usually a conscious decision. There are people who learn the hard way by making decisions which don’t honour themselves or others.

If you are a coach then you know the concept of “away from” motivation and “towards” motivation. If you haven’t come across those terms, they describe whether your motivation to learn is to avoid pain or to seek pleasure. An organisation which has a whole philosophy around “towards” learning would definitely be on my list of wants. In other words an organisation which supports and values life-long learning and development is a must for my employer of choice.

Not only does life-long learning support the development of valuable skills, knowledge and competence; it also gives an employee a conscious and positive experience of learning and bringing out the best in them. It also raises self-awareness, which raises awareness and an understanding of others.

Unfortunately too often, organisations will slash the training budget or undervalue the life-long learning experience as not their responsibility. Some employers resist helping their people to develop beyond their current skill set for fear they will move on, taking their newly found skills with them. These mind-sets actually teach something. They teach their employees that they aren’t valuable and that the employers don’t support growth. For employers who want to bring out their best in people and develop a learning culture as one of their cornerstones of being an employer of choice, here are my top tips:

Wherever possible have a clear internal career path to allow employees to progress up the ranks
Support people with professional or specialism qualifications, either with time or money. Tie in, if necessary as a condition, but not for too long.
Support personal development as well as skills and knowledge development. Helping employees develop greater self-awareness, emotional intelligence, confidence or a sense of wellbeing through your learning activities, will definitely empower them, and pay dividends for you.
Support your employees to move on to pastures new, when it’s right for them. It gives the right signals, and if people are free and encouraged to do the right thing for them, then they know you have their best interests at heart. You will never lose the reputation for supporting them.
Use a multitude of learning opportunities. Learning can be encouraged, when employees are working on projects, helping develop business plans, being involved in customer relationships etc. If the learning potential for employees was articulated and defined, when they are helping to move the business on, then it creates a win/win culture.
If budgets are tight, consider developing your in-house expertise for disseminating skills and knowledge. Have a skills register, so you can tap into the rich resource you may already have at your fingertips. There is nothing more frustrating for an employee sitting there with requisite skills and you don’t make use of them.
Make sure your life-long learning culture is at the top of your communication strategy, both internally and externally. Even if you aren’t recruiting right away, you will be at some point. If your learning reputation is to go before you, then you need to articulate it at every opportunity.

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Lifelong learner at The University of Life

By Christina Lattimer • February 10, 2012 - 9:22 am Miscellaneous

Being a lifelong learner is a decision anyone can take. Are you a lifelong learner?

I was at a seminar a few weeks ago when the host asked the audience for a show of hands to indicate if they considered themselves “lifelong learners” Yes, I knew the answer to that and my hand shot up. It was interesting to see that nearly everyone else did too. It got me thinking about what people meant when professing this.

For me, my love of learning didn’t start at school. I remember choosing my “O Level” options, (Yes showing my age). I opted for shorthand and typing. A brave decision then: This was in the days of typewriters and dictaphones. PC’s and word processers were still just a twinkle in someone’s eye. My teachers were horrified. Apparently I was far too bright to throw away one of my options learning something I could apparently do in a night class. I stubbornly dug my heels in and insisted. Little was I to know that learning how to speed type and present information was probably one of the most useful skills I would need in the world of work.

I often thank my intuition for helping me hold out for what seemed at the time an illogical decision. I left school at 16 and became a typist. It lasted for 9 months.

So, school was good for fundamentals, but it wasn’t where my inspiration for learning started. My love of learning started in my first managerial position at the tender age of 23. I became the office manager in a busy Court office, with around 15 people. All who were considerably older than me, and all who had masses more experience than me. I had to learn fast. I had also been infused with a purpose.

For the next 7 years or so, I consciously began learning the art of managing and understanding people. I steadily climbed the ladder of management roles. Not an academic course in sight, but the richest and most fertile seat of learning anyone could be handed. For the first half of my life, my learning really was the University of Life.

In those years I learned: •

To listen to my intuition, my inner coach and guide •
To sharpen my emotional intelligence, vital if you want to succeed in this world •
Understanding myself, knowing how I operate and how others operate is essential to keep moving. •
How to use my own personal power to make things happen.
My core values and acceptance of other’s values not necessarily the same as mine.

My academic learning began somewhat later. Throughout my management career I had undertaken and enjoyed masses of work based learning. I became a trainer alongside my management role and subsequently designed learning, as well as managing a variety of teams. My love of teaching what I knew was born in those years too.

I was a mature student when I embarked on my first management and teaching qualifications, and then my degree course. By then, I knew my learning style – and academia wasn’t it. I realised of course by then that I was only going to get my foot in the door of better work opportunities if I had the credibility of good qualifications behind me. So I persevered and the whole experience has helped me become more rounded. With age too, I am less likely to want to learn wholly by experience and getting things done, I have become much more of a reflector.

For me, being a lifelong learner has been one of the most purposeful motivators in my life. I have learned the tools of my trade well. I continue to add to my skills and knowledge and can’t imagine a time when I won’t do that. If I want to achieve something, there is always someone who has the skills and knowledge I want and I am always open to learning from someone with greater knowledge. That might be in the form of a book, a training event, or being coached.

But even learning to widen my knowledge and understanding on a wide range of subjects still isn’t my whole reason for proclaiming to be a lifelong learner. The richness in my lifelong learning has been my continuous self-development. Learning about how I operate, create my own reality, my limiting beliefs and how to overcome them. How I relate to others, and how to make things happen. In the word of Covey I am constantly “Sharpening the Saw” of my own self-awareness.

My business, People Discovery is about sharing my knowledge skills and experience both as Manager, Educationalist and HR expert. As well as sharing my knowledge about charting your own self-development.

Throughout the years, I have been coached and coached others. It is a vital and valuable tool to help yourself and others to grow in knowledge and skills. More importantly for me though, it is one of the most powerful ways to help with self-development, raising self-awareness and tapping into your own intuition.

I am working with an inspirational lady, who is teaching about coaching skills as part of a wider curriculum. Watch out for her take on coaching in my guest blog spot next week.

Are you a lifelong learner? What is your learning experience? What is it about being a lifelong learner that is important for you? I’d love to hear from you.

To find out more about being a lifelong learner click here

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